Franklin Twp. offices destroyed by flames
The Franklin Township building on Rolling Meadows Road in Greene County caught fire around 11:30 p.m. Monday, destroying the structure, but injuring no one, officials said. According to Greene County 911, fire broke out around 11:30 p.m. at a time when the structure was unoccupied. The 911 Center received several calls reporting the fire Monday night.
Chief of the Waynesburg Volunteer Fire Department Larry Marshall said firefighters arrived on scene at about 11:45 p.m. when flames were shooting through the roof.
“It totaled the building,” Marshall said. “Heat and smoke was throughout the whole structure when we arrived on scene.”
Fire crews extinguished the blaze in about a half of an hour, Marshall said, but remained on scene until about 4 a.m. The peak roof structure created some trouble for crews working to put out the flames.
Faulty electric caused the blaze, the township supervisors were told by the state police fire marshal. Marshall said the fire appeared accidental.
The fire was slow burning and the structure appeared to be smoking for a while because officials inside EMS Southwest ambulance service located next door to the township building reported smelling smoke throughout Monday night, Marshall reported.
No nearby structures were damaged, officials said.
Supervisors James Hopkins, Reed Kiger and Johnny Higgins were on vacation when the fire occurred.
Hopkins said about 30 percent of the township’s records were destroyed along with computers, desks and tons of papers in filing cabinets.
While 70 percent of the township records were saved, the township secretary may be able to retrieve more from an online filing system and others are duplicated at the courthouse, Hopkins said.
Hopkins said after he got the call that the building was on fire around 11:30 p.m., he drove to the scene where firefighters battled the blaze.
“It’s just one of those things you don’t foresee,” he said.
Marshall said the supervisors were more surprised than anything when they saw the damage.
“They were asking, ‘How did this happen?'” Marshall said. “They were glad we got out what we could.”
Marshall said a number of township records, although slightly burned, were saved.
“(The supervisors) were pretty tickled,” Marshall said. “We covered up a lot of filing cabinets and got some records out. …We hopefully did a good job for them.”
Hopkins said the building is valued at least $200,000, but the supervisors will meet with the insurance company today to assess the total damage.
The one-story building was once a ranch-style house that was transformed into the township building in 1982 or 1983. A large meeting room was added to the structure, which was wooden with a brick veneer.
“It was an old house to start with,” Hopkins said. “…Once that started burning, you just couldn’t stop it. (And all the papers inside) that didn’t help any.”
Hopkins said all that remained by Tuesday afternoon was a freestanding structure with broken windows.
The building housed office space for six township positions: sewer authority, tax collector, zoning officer and the three supervisors.